Stanley Cup live scores and schedule

Stanley Cup live scores refer to the current score of each Stanley Cup playoffs game as it is being played. Keeping up with Stanley Cup live scores and box scores is a great way to follow any Stanley Cup bets you may have placed before puck drop, although the fun doesn’t have to stop there.

Every Stanley Cup playoff game features live, in-game betting that sometimes directly correlates to the current score, among other factors. For example, if the Montreal Canadiens are losing 3-0 to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second period of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals, there will be live in-game bets available, such as wagering on the Canadiens to tie the game, or to make the full comeback and claim the win. Since 3-0 is a sizeable deficit, the odds for an in-game live bet of that nature would be fairly lucrative, due to the perceived unlikelihood of such a comeback.

Live betting can also focus on specific players and what they might do during a game. For example, if Auston Matthews scores a goal at the beginning of the second period, a live betting market may open up so bettors can wager on whether or not he’ll score another goal before the end of that same period. Another example would be if a goalie had a shutout with 10 minutes left in the third period. At that point, it could be shrewd to wager on that goalie to officially complete the shutout.

The Stanley Cup bracket looks very similar to the bracket used by NCAA basketball for the March Madness tournament. The Eastern Conference is on one side of the bracket, while the Western Conference is on the other. The teams compete within their own conference until the Stanley Cup Finals itself, when the champions of each conference face off for the NHL championship.

Each conference has 16 teams split into two eight-team divisions. The top three teams in each division make the Stanley Cup playoffs, while the two teams in each conference with the next best regular season record earn a wild card spot. From there, the winner of each division plays a corresponding wild card team in the first round, with the division winner also gaining home ice advantage. The other first round series feature the second and third place teams of each division squaring off. Every round is contested over a best-of-seven series, and the winning team simply moves up the bracket to play the adjacent winning team.

The last four teams remaining contest the Conference Finals, and the winner of each Conference Finals series represents their conference in the Stanley Cup Finals.